Unit 3

Getting Started

1

Objectives For Unit Three

Student will be able to locate and describe the significance and appropriate use of vehicle equipment using owner’s manual when necessary.

Student will be able to list the necessary steps to safely enter a vehicle and prepare to drive.

Student will be able to explain the importance of consistently using all of a vehicle’s safety equipment.

What makes the vehicle go forward?

What is a pre-entry check and why do I need to do one?

What do those lights on the dashboard mean?

Do I have to wear my safety belt?

What information is in my owner’s manual?

Pre-entry Checks: Why Do One?

Pre-entry Check : Outside The Vehicle

Walk around the outside of the vehicle. Check for the three P’s.

Pre-entry Check: Under & Around The Vehicle

Coolant Leak Oil Leak

Transmission Fluid

Fuel Leak

Getting Started: An Overview

Lock doors.

Adjust seats and head rests for best control .

Adjust inside and outside mirrors.

Fasten and adjust safety belt.

Make sure all passengers buckle up.

Turn off and put away all your electronic devices.

Getting Started: Lock The Doors

Why should you lock doors? Personal safety

Helps keep you in the car in case of a crash

Getting Started: Adjusting Head Restraints

Fact or Fiction? Head Rests or restraints are just for comfort and don’t do anything for you in a crash.

Where does the head restraint go? Top of the head restraint should be even with the top

of the head or as high as it will go. Distance from the back of the head to the restraint

should be as small as possible.

Getting Started: Adjusting Your Seat For Safety

Step One: You are driving a machine, NOT sitting in a lounge chair.

Step Two: Make sure your lower back is as far back IN the seat as much as possible.

Step Three: Adjust the angle of the seat.

Getting Started: Adjusting Your Seat For Safety

Step Four: Slide the seat forward to ensure your feet can easily reach the pedals.

Step Five : Reach out to the steering wheel and make sure you can reach it without having to lift yourself out of the seat. Your arms should be extended, but comfortably bent at the elbows and wrists.

Getting Started: Hand Position on the Wheel

Many experts, including AAA state that having your hands at 9 and 3 is the best place to maintain control and avoid injury from airbags.

Other traffic safety professionals believe that 8 and 4 is better to maintain control and avoid injury from airbags

Getting Started: Adjusting Mirrors For Safety

Rear View Mirror Where should it be facing? Should be facing directly behind the vehicle. Should allow a driver to see the entire rear view window

How often should a driver check the rear view mirror? Need to check several times a minute. Some research says a driver should check mirrors every five

seconds.

When must a driver check the rear view mirror? Prior to changing lanes, slowing down, entering traffic from

the side of a street or driving down a long or steep hill.

Getting Started: Back-up Cameras

NEW TECHNOLOGY

• Designed to minimize blind spots and avoid back over incidents.

• May be used on the skills test at the MVA. • Do not replace head checks. • Will be on all new model cars by 2018.

View from a back up camera

Getting Started: Adjusting Side Mirrors

Enhanced Mirror Settings when used correctly• Limits the need to complete numerous head checks.

• Does not eliminate the need to conduct a head check.

• Allows the area in the front of the car to stay in peripheral view when a driver does have to check side mirrors.

• Night time glare is eliminated or removed all together.

New Drivers WILL BE REQUIRED to complete head checks when taking the MVA skills test so it is important to get into the habit.

Traditional vs. Enhanced Mirror Settings

Enhanced Mirror Settings

Getting Started: Adjusting Side Mirrors

For the driver’s side mirror Place your head against the side window. Set the mirror so you can see the side of your car.

For the passenger side mirror Position your head at the middle of the car. Set the mirror so you can see the side of your car.

To see if your mirrors are in the right place Watch a car as it passes you. It should appear in the outside mirror before it leaves

the inside mirror, and it should appear in your peripheral vision before leaving the outside mirror.

Enhanced Mirror Settings: How to set your mirrors

Getting Started: Seat Belts, Air Bags, And Car Seats

Every in Maryland, someone is injured in a traffic crash. If you’re not buckled up, you could be thrown through a window, sent skidding along the pavement, or be crushed under a vehicle.

12 minutes

Fact Or Fiction?

I am safer if thrown clear of the car in a crash.

If the car catches fire or is submerged in water, I cannot get out.

Seat belts hurt you in a crash more than they help.

More than 120 UNBELTED DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS are killed every year in Maryland.

Approximately 38 PERCENT OF DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS killed in motor vehicle crashes are unbelted.

Towards Zero Death: Seat Belts

“If you are not restrained you become an object so you are launched into the dash board, the windshield, the door or ejected and launched into space and so all of that greatly magnifies the effects of the injury.”

Dr. Thomas Scalea, Physician-in-Chief, R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma

“There’s a common misconception that the back seat passenger is protected. For some reason, sometimes people may feel that they don’t need to wear a seatbelt and they’re absolutely wrong.”

Dr. Mayur Narayan M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma

Seatbelts work.

They work after you make a mistake and we know that when they’re worn, and worn correctly, they will save your life and possibly prevent injury.

So are you wearing your seatbelt 100% of the time?

Getting Started: Safety Belts, Car Seats, and Airbags

Now that you know to wear a belt, How do you properly wear a safety belt ? Place lap belt snugly across hips. Adjust center post mounting for height, if vehicle is

so equipped. Belt over top of shoulder and across center of chest

to distribute force in the event of a crash. Keep seat back in upright position to avoid sliding

out of the seat in a frontal crash.

Getting Started: Safety Belts, Car Seats, And Airbags

Getting Started: Safety Belts, Car Seats, and Airbags

Infant seats/rear facing until at least 1 year and/or 20 lbs.

Forward facing seats for children at least 1 year and/or 20 lbs.

8 years old and under must be secured in a child safety seat unless the child is 4’9” or taller.

Too big for a booster? Under 12 years, safest if seated in back seat.

Seat Belts And Car Seats: The Law

According to Maryland law, who must wear a safety belt when any one (learner’s permit, provisional license, or full license) is driving?

Are seat belts primary or secondary violations?

What is the current (2016) penalty?

Getting Started: Air Bags

Protects against head and chest injuries. Designed to work with the safety belts, not

to replace them. Should adjust seat for minimum 10 inches

of clearance between chest and steering wheel.

Getting Started: Vehicle Control Equipment

STEERINGWHEEL

SHIFT LEVERCRUISE CONTROL

PARKING BRAKE

BRAKE AND

ACCELERATOR PEDAL

Vehicle Control Equipment: Steering Wheel

What does the steering wheel allow a driver to do?

• Direct the vehicle

• Maintain control of the vehicle

Vehicle Control Equipment: Brake and Accelerator

Accelerator Pedal Located on the front right corner of most vehicles. Allows driver to control speed by the amount of

pressure applied by the right foot to the accelerator pedal.

Brake Pedal Located to the left of the accelerator. Allows driver to stop vehicle. Stopping distance is determined by the amount of

pressure driver applies and the amount of friction on the road.

Vehicle Control Equipment: Parking Brake

Parking Brake Designed to hold a vehicle in place when vehicle is

parked. May either be a pedal at the far left side or a lever on

the console

My parents call the parking brake the emergency brake. Why? The parking brake usually operates using cables and

not the hydraulic braking system. It can be used to help slow the vehicle if the hydraulic

or ABS brakes fail.

Vehicle Control Equipment: Shift Lever

P(Park) locks the transmission. The vehicle will not move in Park. You can only remove the key after you place the vehicle in P.

R (Reverse) –used to back up. Never put your vehicle in reverse when it is moving forward.

N (Neutral) allows the wheels to roll without engine power.

D (Drive) keeps the vehicle moving forward.

2,1 or D2, D1 – usually used when towing something or in inclement weather.

Vehicle Control Equipment: Cruise Control

Cruise Control is only used on highways. Allows driver to maintain speed with having to hold

down the accelerator.

Should not be used in heavy traffic, or wet, slippery roads.

Each vehicle has slightly different cruise control features.

Vehicle Communication Devices

Horn

Turn Signal Lever

Headlight Lever Headlight Switch

Hazard Flashers

Windshield Wipers

Vehicle Comfort Devices

Instrument Panel: How Your Car Communicates With You

Fuel gauge

Speedometer

Gear Indicator

Tachometer

Temperature Gauge

Instrument Panel: How Your Car Communicates With You

Instrument Panel: How Your Car Communicates With You

Instrument Panel: How Your Car Communicates With You

Review for Unit Three Quiz

What is a pre-entry check?

What are some of the things a pre-entry check is designed to find?

What are some reasons why a seatbelt is important for safe driving?

What are some examples of vehicle control equipment? When is it appropriate to use that equipment?

Review for Unit Three Quiz

What is vehicle communication equipment ? When is it appropriate to use?

What is a parking brake and how does a driver use one?

What types of gauges are found on the instrument panel? What kinds of information do those gauges provide?

Review For Unit Three Quiz

How should a driver wear his/her seatbelt?

How should a head restraint be positioned?

What does a red indicator light mean?

What does a yellow/orange indicator light mean?

What does a blue/green indicator light mean?

Breaking Away: Preview of Unit Four

How do you start your vehicle safely?

How does a driver S.E.E.?

What is it important for a driver to see when driving?